In section 19 (prosecutions), after subsection (4), there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(4A)

Any document required or authorised, by virtue of any statutory provision, to be served on a foreign company for the purposes of the institution of, or otherwise in connection with, proceedings for an offence under section 2(2A) of this Act alleged to have been committed by the company as the owner of a vessel shall be treated as duly served on that company if the document is served on the master of the vessel; and any person authorised to serve any document for the purposes of the institution of, or otherwise in connection with, proceedings for an offence under this Act (whether or not in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this subsection) shall, for that purpose, have the right to go on board the vessel in question.

(4B)

In subsection (4A) of this section a “foreign company” means a company or body which is not one to whom any of the following provisions applies—

(a)

sections 695 and 725 of the Companies Act 1985;

(b)

Articles 645 and 673 of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1986,

so as to authorise the service of the document in question under any of those provisions.”